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The upcoming special election to replace John Kerry, who was recently appointed secretary of state, will be held in June with primaries in April.

Republicans face an uphill battle introducing their candidates to voters, as WBUR found that most voters did not know state Rep. Dan Winslow and ex-Navy SEAL and private equity investor Gabriel Gomez — both of whom are running in the GOP primary in the largely Democratic state. Fifty-eight percent of all voters hadn’t heard of Winslow and 56 percent hadn’t heard of Gomez.

Meanwhile, former Sen. Scott Brown — who lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren in November and decided not to run again for the special election — remains popular. He has a 58 percent favorability and 27 percent unfavorability.

Pollsters surveyed 498 registered voters earlier this week via telephone and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.